The iPhone 3Gs drops to $97 at Wal-Mart.

MAY 25, 2010 • In anticipation of Apple’s next iPhone model, Wal-Mart cut the price of the current 3GS unit from $197 to $97 with a two-year contract with AT&T. In related news, Apple passed Microsoft as the most valuable technology company. Apple’s market value of $225.1 billion passed Microsoftʼs $222.3 billion on the Nasdaq exchange. Apple only trails Exxon Mobil Corp. at $280.6 billion.

Impact: In the world of tech stocks, the 1990s were the years of Dell, Intel and Microsoft as the PC went from luxury to commodity good.  Since then, the last 10 years have been considered a lost decade as these stocks stagnated while the world became Internet and mobile focused, hence the rise new tech stocks like Google and the resurgence of Apple on the backs of the iPod and iTunes and particularly the iPhone and now the iPad.  If the iPhone represents the 3^rd screen after TVs and computers, then the iPad represents the 4^th screen in the new tablet PC market.  With 2 million iPad sales in the U.S. already and distribution now open across the world, Apple is in a position to not only surpass Microsoft on the NASDAQ but completely overshadow it.